The Wrong Family
by Rose Verdict
Summary: 'Sup. The name's Mike Schmidt. I'm a night guard at Freddy's. Uh, what else do I say? OH! My brothers, sisters, and dad all died there as a result of the Purple Guy. And for some reason, my coworker, Fritz, freaked out at me when I mentioned Him, too. My mom's been hiding two somethings, no clue what, and Mr. Jeremy is relapsing again. T b/c FNAF (Prologue Arc 1)
1. Chapter 1

Just gonna apologize for the formatting now. Mobile is not fun.

The Wrong Family

Chapter One

Prologue Arc One

Hello. My name is Mike Schmidt. You killed my brothers and sisters. Prepare to die.

No, no, I can't copy from a movie...

Maybe...something more dynamic...

YOU'VE PLAGUED THIS WORLD LONG ENOUGH, MISTER EVILLER-THAN-THOU! NOW YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR OUR MEDICINE!

Nooooo, that's not right either...

I bet that if somebody were following my thoughts, they'd be confused. Let's see...this all started years, decades, ago...

Flashback

Year: 1969

My family's been screwed whenever Fazbear establishments came into play, ever since an innocent enough request from father to daughter...

################

If one were to search for the Night Guard of Fredbear's Family Diner, they would find a young man-a 'Scott Cawthon' to be exact. At the relatively youthful age of 27, he was a father of one, loving husband to Marian Grace Cawthon (Schmidt), and all-around nice guy. He was a fiery redhead Irishman, complete with freckles and emerald green eyes. (Although having been born American had sort of robbed him of the chance for that Irish accent.) The animatronic characters at his workplace had grown to love him as a brother, and his amazing Gracie was like a daughter. Scott would play with them at night, enjoying their company to the fullest from midnight to 6. Little Grace Lynn Cawthon couldn't wait until her Daddy said she was old enough to come with.  
Speaking of which...  
"Hey, Gracie, ya have a minute?" called Daddy.  
"Why?" Gracie asked.  
"Well, I want to make something super-duper special for Mommy, but I need you to go ask the people next door if we can have a party at their place. Can you do that for me?" Daddy explained. The 'people next door'... He must mean Goldie and Springy and Freddy!  
"Awe we trowin Mommy a birtday pawty at Fwedbeaw's?" Gracie asked.  
"Well, that's a surprise!" Daddy smiled and winked. "And if you do good, then maybe tonight, you could play with me and the gang!"  
Playing with the animatronics ALL NIGHT LONG?! The kindergartener squealed with joy at the thought! It was her dream come true!  
"Otay Daddy! I'ww do supa-dupa-upa-BOOPA good!" She exclaimed happily before running over to the diner.  
As she ran off, her father chuckled to himself, "I know you will..." before picking something up off the kitchen counter and following.  
Seconds later, Marian walked in, searching for her butcher knife. Tonight was meatloaf night, after all. But she couldn't find it. She turned the apartment upside-down, looking for it, but her blue eyes darkened when she saw what else was missing. She had hoped he had gotten over his...urges...but it appeared not.

It was a race against time now, and Marian felt as though she'd missed the starting whistle.

#######################

Gracie skipped down the stairs from her apartment to the ground, not noticing the purple Halloween mask on one of the handrails, nor the shadowy figure that followed her, putting it on. She began singing the Clean-Up Song, but with the words, "Fwedbeaw's, Fwedbeaw's, best pwace to have a pawty, Fwedbeaw's, Fwedbeaw's, I'm a bid dirl, don't ya see?" At this point she had to walk over to the diner's door, where it seemed like it was really busy. Maybe there was a birthday party already inside..?  
The man pulled the mask on over his head, even though its features were stretched too much to see. It honestly looked like his face was purple. (Some would later argue it was more of a violet, but at the time, nobody took much notice.) He grinned maliciously underneath it as he removed his nametag from his shirt-"Scott Cawthon"-and placed it in his pocket.  
He had work to do.

#####################

Fredbear and Spring were busy entertaining the children from the stage in the front of the diner. This left poor Freddy at a disadvantage. Without the help of one or both of his brothers (not that they knew he thought of them that way), he had to bring cake to the children. Alone.  
He had never had to do it alone before, so today's mega-birthday party was already nerve-racking. Of course, he was always nervous about something, so this was normal for him. But he had a bad feeling about today.  
The other two were struggling, as well. Fredbear's rehearsed songs and jokes were strained, and his ad libs weren't much better. Spring was somewhat twitchy, while his guitar playing wasn't quite 'in tune.' Thankfully none of the customers noticed.  
Freddy settled into a routine of walk-and-give-cake to free up his processors for watching the crowds. After all, he may be young, but he still knew that the more people there were in a place, the more likely there were to be troublemakers. So it was best to keep a sharp lookout.

#################################

Gracie skidded to a stop in front of the door. She looked up longingly at the handle.  
"It's...so high..."  
She reached up to it, but at 2 feet 4 inches, she couldn't reach it. It was just too high up! Maybe to keep any stray puppies or kitties away from the pizza...  
She started to cry when she realized she couldn't do what she'd told her Daddy she would.  
Her Daddy flipped his grip on the knife...

Freddy was giving cake to the children, happy he could make their day, when he heard it.

##################

A little girl was crying...That was their amazing Gracie! But where was she?  
Freddy started searching her out, and he noticed Fredbear doing the same. Spring, on the other hand, was staring at the door, only elbowing Fredbear to get his attention. Freddy also looked that way, and what he saw would haunt him the rest of his days.  
Gracie was standing at the door, reaching for the handle and crying. The figure behind her held a knife, raised up in both hands. This would have been horrirying in and of itself, but the worst part was simple:  
Behind the purple mask was the face of Scott, the Night Guard, their friend.  
And Gracie was his target.

##################

She heard muffled breathing behind her, and she was scared.  
Gracie slowly turned around and looked up at his face. He held his knife up, poised to kill. They remained that way for what felt like forever, even though it was probably just a few seconds.  
Then she screamed.  
He brought the knife down.  
A sickening squelch echoed throughout the neighborhood, followed by another, and yet another...

###########################

Freddy's cake platter fell to the ground as he took a step back from the door.  
The two on stage brought their show to a screeching halt.  
Finally, the adults caught on to the danger and looked to the door. A young mother with two toddlers was the first to react, yelling "Call the police!"

#################

Gracie kept crying more and more as her Daddy, no, this bad man, hurt her with the knife, over and over, as her vision faded. She could make out someone yelling for help, but the red, oh, so much RED, NO, MAKE IT STOP! OWOWOW MAKEITSTOPMAKEITSTOPMAKEITSTOP ITHURTSHURTSHURTS LET IT END!  
She let out one last, bone-chilling screech of agony, ringing loudly for miles around, before she simply...

couldn't...

go...

on...

.

..

...

...

what...where was she..?  
She got up from the ground of this place. It was so...bland. At least, she thought it was like Brussels sprouts, and Mommy and...the Purple Guy...always called them bland..!  
There wasn't much here, just this ground and four lights. There was one above her that looked so pretty and happy and safe. Then below the ground, she saw this dark, evil place, and it looked like the people there were hurting bad. The light to her left was behind a locked door, but she ran to it anyway. The door had a window, and when she looked through it, she saw the diner. There were police, and there was the Purple Guy, and he was trying to talk to Mommy, but she seemed angry. Oh, man, she just punched him! Nice! But...  
Why was she under a cover in a truck? She was here...wasn't she?  
A voice came from behind her, saying "Actually, you're both."  
She spun around, and she saw the fourth light. It was the light of a normal lightbulb, and underneath it were two chairs. In one of these chairs, a little boy with adorable baby angel wings sat, swinging his feet.  
Gracie walked over to the chairs and warily sat in the other. "Who awe you?" She asked.  
"I haven't been born yet, but God says that my name will be Michael!" Answered the boy.  
"Whewe is dis place?"  
Michael scratched his head, replying, "Actually, I'm not sure. But I do know why we're here!"  
When he didn't keep going, Gracie asked, "And why awe we hewe?"  
"Well, you saw how...that man...ah, well...killed you?"  
Gracie was horrified. "I'M DEAD?!"  
"Hold up! I wasn't done yet!" Michael yelled. Then he continued. "Well, you believe in Jesus, and his plan for you wasn't done yet."  
Gracie thought on this. "But if I wasn't s'posed ta go, but I did, den that means...DA BIG BADDY DID BAD TINGS! And now tings awe bwoken!"  
Michael nodded. "Yep! And because you're not supposed to be dead yet, God told me that I could help you choose where to go!"  
"Go? Wike...to one of the wights?" Asked Gracie.  
"That's right! The floor is here so you don't fall down *there*, but the other places are still okay to go to." Michael told her.  
Gracie thought about it for a second. "What happens if I go up?"  
Michael stated, "Then we can go up together and be happy forever." He didn't seem completely on board with the idea.  
Gracie added, "What about dat door? It's wocked, but I saw Mommy thewe. She wooks sad..."  
"Ah, yes, the door..." Michael mumbled. He spoke louder when Gracie looked at him funny. "Well, that's where you came from. If you wanted to go back, try to make things right, then you'd go there. But you'd be a ghost, and no living person would see you."  
Gracie gazed at the little unborn angel boy, who seemed to know everything. "Do you know who youw Mommy is gonna be?" He was caught off guard by this. "I mean, you see da Guy who MADE me and you, wouldn't he teww you who youw Mommy wiww be?"  
"Well...he hasn't...not yet..." he replied sheepishly.  
Gracie thought about this for a bit more, then asked, "If I go troo dat doow, ken you ask God if my Mommy can be youw Mommy, too? Ow at weast come see me?"  
Michael smiled softly at her. "I think I can do that."  
Gracie grinned her toothy smile at him and popped out of the chair, heading for the door.  
"Wait! Gracie!" She turned around to see Michael running towards her. "You'll need this." He held out a key. She took it and opened the door. She was about to step outside when he put his hand on her shoulder. "There's no going back once you go through that door. At least not until the job is done. And if I am born to your Mommy, then I won't remember this. Not at first."  
Gracie just smiled and stepped out of the doorway, and into the world. She clutched the key in her hand as Michael and the door shimmered away. Then she looked to her Mommy, who was crying on the curb. She saw the diner, with the two yellow animatronics comforting the brown one as he shuddered and cried. She saw the police locking away Purple Guy. She shivered as he seemed to glare right at her. (She knew something wasn't right about it, but she tucked the thought to the back of her mind for later.) Mommy looked in her direction as well, drying her eyes.  
Gracie ran over to Mommy, ignoring the people walking through her like she wasn't there. She sat down next to her and began crying herself. She would've wanted to say goodbye before she died...

###############

Marian had just dealt with that...CREEP! Now she was utterly depleted. Her amazing Grace, gone! Her loving husband, no more! And now she couldn't even say goodbye...  
She heard quiet sobbing from next to her, and to her astonishment, she saw a spectral version of her Grace, crying next to her.  
"Mommy, Mommy, Mommy..."  
Shocked, she scooped the girl up and into her arms, whispering, "Shhh...Mommy's here," over and over.  
"Mommy..? You ken...see me..?"  
Marian turned Grace around to face her. "Yes, I see you! My sweet, amazing Grace..." She hugged Grace tightly to her chest, weeping.  
"Mommy? Can I ask you someting?"  
Marian looked at her. "Anything."  
"Weww, I met dis nice wittwe boy aftew...dat...happened, and he said his name was Michael. And he said dat he wasn't bown yet, so I asked him if he wanted you to be his Mommy, and he said yes, so if you haf any boy babies, ken you name one Michael?"  
Marian was so confused, but she got the part about naming a boy Michael, so she answered, "Anything for my amazing Grace!"  
Grace smiled, her tear tracks from earlier graying, her body disappearing.  
"Grace? Where are you going?!" Marian asked frantically.  
"Nowhere! I'm 'taying -ight her-!" She answered.  
"But! You're disappearing!"  
"Oh, di-? I do-'t t-nk you'-w be -ble to s- me -on. Bu- -'ww sti- be -ewe, ev-n -en I c-'t b- se-n! D-'t wo-ry M-y! I'- -e f-! -'- -!" She completely disappeared, leaving Marian more heartbroken than ever.

##########################

Grace was trying to make her Mommy feel better, but by the look on her face, it seemed she didn't see Grace anymore.  
She bowed her head before walking in the diner, where Springy and Goldie were comforting Freddy.

"There we go, it's all over, she isn't hurt any longer..." Mumbled Goldie as he ran his paw over Freddy's back. Mommy had done the same thing for her whenever she had a nightmare...Springy was simply there as a shoulder for Freddy to cry on. And it seemed like he needed it...

#######################

Freddy was in shock. How could he not be? One of his best friends just up and murdered his own daughter, for Pete's sake! The other two were trying to cheer him up, but it wasn't working. Oh, he tried to calm down, think rationally and all that, but he couldn't. Not when he could never see Gracie again...  
He heard stifled sobs from his right. When he turned, he saw Fredbear, trying to hold it in and failing. Spring was also struggling to keep calm, he just kept silent.  
Oh, his poor friends! If only somebody could tell them that Gracie was all right...  
"I wish I could teww you dat I'm gonna be fine..."  
Funny, that sounded like her.  
Freddy turned back around to the front of the diner, and who was standing there but Gracie herself!  
Spring spoke up first. "Gracie..? But...you're dead..."  
Subtle. Veeeerrrryyyy subtle. Please note the use of SARCASM!  
She looked away and sniffled. "Yeah, but I'm 'till hewe! I'm not weaving untiw I ken fix tings!" She stomped her foot for emphasis. She even folded her arms.  
Fredbear slowly walked over and dropped down to her eye level. "What Spring meant to say was, how are you here? We saw...that...and yet here you are, alive and well. Pardon if we're confused."  
Gracie looked at him, and for the first time they could see how deathly pale her face was. "But I'm nawt awive. I'm dead, and my Da-I mean, da Puwpwe Man, kiwwed me..."  
She began sobbing, and Fredbear picked her up and walked over to where the other two were crying. "Hey, chin up, we'll make it work, don't worry, shhh, shhh..." He cooed to the dead girl. This brought up a question in her mind.  
"Hey, F-F-Fwedbeaw?" She sniffled.  
"Yes, Gracie?" He asked.  
"How do you see m-me? I saw a boy when I...yeah...and he said dat no wiving pewson would see me. But you guys see me..?"  
Fredbear thought on this for a little while before speaking. "Well, we aren't alive like your Mommy is. Maybe that thing about not seeing doesn't go for us because of that."  
Gracie smiled sadly at him. "At weast I won't be awone wike I t'ought." Then she gave a great yawn and curled into Fredbear's soft fur, asleep.  
Spring looked up, oily tears in his eyes. "What do we do now, Fredbear?" Freddy nodded in agreement, wiping at his face.  
They looked at the tiny girl asleep in Fredbear's arms, then Freddy spoke up. "Maybe we could get Mr. Fredbear to make her an animatronic..?" At the other two's blank stares, he went on, saying, "Well, she mentioned thinking she would be alone, but she's a ghost now, right? So if we got her a new body, one that the customers could see, maybe she wouldn't be so lonely?" He sounded unsure of himself.  
Spring looked at her thoughtfully. "Sure. But let's get some sleep mode first. Goodness knows we need it after today." With a nod of agreement, Fredbear went to the stage and gently placed Gracie down on it. He and the other animatronics got in their spots before shutting down for the night. Even though it was barely noon, they knew that no more customers were coming that day. And the Night Guard wasn't coming that night, the cops had made sure of that.

########################

That night, Mr. Fredbear was the one who walked into the diner for the night shift. His presence woke the animatronics, who looked at him with shock.  
"Hello, Fredbear, Spring, Freddy." He greeted sadly. "It's been a long day. For all of us. Are you three all right?"  
Freddy sniffled, while Spring looked away and Fredbear gazed at his namesake with a deadpan stare.  
"Yeah, dumb question. But I still want to ask."  
Fredbear answered softly, "We will be, with time. But for now...actually, we have a favor to ask."  
Curious, the owner of the diner gestured for him to continue.  
"Well, you see, after HE murdered Gracie-" he stopped when his voicebox crackled, but went on "-we were in the diner, comforting each other, then we saw...well...we saw Gracie's ghost."  
Mr. Fredbear was taken aback. "Her...ghost..? She's still here?"  
Freddy nodded and continued where Fredbear had left off. "Yes, and she said that she was glad we could see her, and that she didn't want to be lonely, and that normal people couldn't see her, and then she fell asleep. Then I thought, well, if she's lonely, maybe we should make her a new body, one that you could see, then she could interact with the customers and not be so lonely."  
Spring piped up next. "Yeah, but we were tired and had to enter sleep mode before we could think of any ideas."  
Mr. Fredbear thought about this, before a huge smile lit up his face. "I've got it! We could make her an animatronic puppet! Let's think of ideas for what it'll look like tonight, okay? It's the least we could do for her..." He and the animatronics went to the backstage room to plan, leaving the sleeping girl on the stage, blissfully dreaming of heaven.

#################

It was the next Sunday. Marian had worn her black dress to church that morning, and it was time for the funeral. Her sweet...sweet Grace...and she would probably never see her again...  
She stifled her sobs as the funeral home drew closer. She saw her parents leaving their car. Her parents...they'd told her Scott was bad news, but did she listen? No! And now here they were, at their only grandchild's funeral, and, and, and, and...  
By this point she had run to her parents, and she'd thrown herself into her father's arms, weeping.  
Her dad, a man by the name of Michael Arnold Schmidt, was on the brink of losing his composure. Her mother, Pauline Lynn Schmidt (Gartner), had long since lost hers.  
The funeral went by in a blur for Marian. One minute, she was sobbing incoherently into her dad's shoulders, the next, she was standing over the grave, tossing in the first shovelful of soil.  
And the next, she was punching Scott in the gut for having the audacity to come to the funeral reception.  
Repeatedly.  
The reception was at a local bar and grill, and the patrons heard her yelling things like, "You IDIOT! You think I'll ACCEPT you back?! After what you DID?! GO AWAY YOU EVIL STUPID PIECE OF SHI-" By now the security guards at the reception area were pulling her off of him.  
"Ma'am, please step away from the gentleman-"  
"GENTLEMAN MY FOOT! HE MURDERED MY DAUGHTER-HIS DAUGHTER-AND HE HARASSES ME AND YOU CALL HIM A GENTLEMAN?!" At this the security guards turned to him and escorted him out of the building.  
Marian fell to the floor, completely drained from the past week, crying.

She looked...like an angel in distress.

###############################

Sooo, how'd I do? My first upload from my mom's old phone YAAAY!

Dunno what else to put here, so Read, Review, Follow, and Favorite if you want to see more! (And yes I know I'm doomed to death-by-fanfiction-writing-overload. OuO)

FOOD EATER VERDICTA IS OUT! PEACE!


	2. Chapter 2

**Quick AN, I am not exactly proud of this chapter, but I NEEDED TO UPDATE! Sorry to everyone who's hoping for updates in my other things, because SCHOOL. I'm actually in school right now, doing this instead of my Meteorology work. HAHAHA OOPS JUST READ AND DON'T HATE ME! *runs into bunker to escape raging masses***

* * *

It had been a long night for Mr. Fredbear. He had stayed up to the wee hours of the morning with Fredbear, Spring, and Freddy, working on the design for the new animatronic. Needless to say, making animatronics that could be used as puppets for deceased little girls was rather mind-boggling, but that analogy was what had given them the basics of the new 'tronic's shape.

But for the moment, he just wanted to go home and rest. Thankfully he lived near the diner, within walking distance actually, so he wasn't a danger to drivers. His dazed state of mind would've made sure of that otherwise. He thought back on Freddy's words earlier...

"...and she thought she would be alone..."

...alone... Being alone was a feeling Mr. Fredbear was well acquainted with. Having been shunned by...hmmm...best not think about that...but it led to making his own family, in the form of the 'tronics. And then when they had felt their own lonliness, he had opened the diner...and then welcomed the new Night Guard with open arms, grateful someone wanted to spend 6 hours every night at a small-town diner for meager pay...maybe too grateful. Maybe if they'd investigated the new hire a little more, maybe if they had looked at his resume, maybe if...but "maybe ifs" wouldn't change anything...

At this point he had made it home. A modest suburban house, its yellow paint and brown roof set it apart from its neighbors' varying beiges, blacks, grays, and whites. The house itself wasn't very special, but the memories made inside were a different matter altogether. Mr. Fredbear closed the front door and went to sit down in his worn recliner when he saw the blinking light on the answering machine. He had many messages, mostly from policemen and women, but two were from others. One of these was from his son, and the other Mrs. Cawthon. He listened to his son's message first.

"Hey, Dad, it's Jeremy. I heard about what happened with Scott and Gracie, at the diner? So sorry it had to happen. I was thinking-" here he heard someone else on Jeremy's end protesting "-fine, Phil was thinking that maybe, since people might stop going to the diner, we open a new restaurant, under a new name." Phil called over a "Thank you!" before letting Jeremy go on. "Well, that's all I've got. Phil and I would work at it, too. Well, bye!" The message ended.  
His adoptive son, as resourceful as always. Philip was definitely a good influence on the boy. Although he tended toward extreme solutions, Jeremy was always trying to make his dad proud with him. Mr. Fredbear decided to think more on this later. For now, he had to listen to Mrs. Cawthon's message.

"-orking now? Oh wait, the light turned on. Hello, Samuel. It's Marian. I, uh, don't think that I'll be staying around here much longer. I just want to say thank you for…for being like a second father to Grace. I know that it must have been hard for the animatronics to see what happened, and if I can, I'd like to apologize to you and them for not seeing the warning signs earlier." She sniffled. "I...guess...this is it, then. Bye." She hung up.

Mr. Fredbear slowly put the reciever down and collapsed in the recliner, quietly crying.

* * *

Marian finally got outside of the stuffy courtroom, glad to be done testifying for the day. She gave the reporters that wanted to hear the Tragic Mother's Tale the cold shoulder. In all honesty, she couldn't bring herself to give a da-

"Marian?" She knew that voice, it was her coworker, Philip Gohmine The man in question was leaning against his pickup, waving at her.

"Phil? What are you doing here?" She asked, genuinely confused.

"What, I can't give my colleague a ride home from the courthouse? I'm hurt, Maria!" He grinned goofily.

"Ah, shut up. Let's get out of here. And it's Marian, Bill." She replied just as sarcastically before smirking. The guy sure knew how to cheer her up.  
After a while of driving, she asked, "So how's Jeremy?"

"Ah, same old, same old, you know. He called his dad about opening a different location, avoid the bad PR, yeah? He wasn't home though. Not much different than can be expected." He shrugged. "How about you and your folks? Anything interesting?"

"Well, I'm obviously divorcing HIM, and probably changing back to my maiden name, but as a whole? We're moving." Before Phil could protest, she went on. "Not far, mind you, but enough to get away from this craziness." He visibly calmed at that.

"Okay, but I still want to keep in touch. After all, I need somebody to talk to when Jeremy gets boring!" He chuckled. Marian just shook her head, laughing and telling him, "You're hopeless!"

Maybe she could learn to live again. Maybe...

* * *

Gracie stretched out on the stage. It had been a long day for Goldie and Springy and Freddy. And for the past few nights, they had been working on a "surprise" for her. But she wanted to know what it was..!

She saw the three walk backstage, sharing smiles of...what was that word? Like excitement, or ank-zi-eh-tee? Antici...pay...shun..?

Wait, did they close the door while she thought of that word?

Aw, shoelaces!

She ran over to the door and tried to listen.

"Hey, Spring, hand me that endo arm, please?"

"Yeah, here, Freddy."

"I wonder if Mr. Fredbear finished the mask yet..?"

"Doubt it. I mean, we did just finish the design. If he did, I'd be surprised."

"Do either of you wanna give this a shot?"

"Here, let me see, Freddy..."

"I see the problem! You're trying to put the arm on the wrong side!"

"Heheheh, I knew that!"

"NO YA DIDN'T AHAHA!"

"Spring!"

"What am I to do with you two..."

They were...making another robot friend? She wanted to see! But before she could peek, she saw Mister Fredbear walk over, carrying a grocery bag with something black and white inside. It looked heavy...if only she could help...

Gah! He went in while she was thinking! It happened again! She put her ear to the door again.

* * *

Fredbear was chuckling as he watched the others' antics when his namesake walked in, stopping Spring and Freddy in their tracks.

"Hey, boys! Lookie what I brought!" he declared childishly.

"What is it?" Spring asked.

Mr. Fredbear unceremoniously dumped his bag on the table, letting a bunch of black cloth spill out. Then he reached inside and pulled out a white mask with blue tear marks and a big grin.

"It's...crying..." Freddy stated.

Sheepishly chuckling, Mr. Fredbear explained, "Yeah, about that. I was checking out a rummage sale for the local theater, and they had all these masks laying out. But none of them were normal happy faces, so I figured we could repaint this one, maybe switch out the tear tracks for rosy cheeks?"  
Spring shrugged. "Why not?" Fredbear nodded in agreement, and Freddy simply gave a thumbs-up.

"If we're all in agreement, then let's get working!" Mr. Fredbear declared, revealing white and red paints from within the bag.

* * *

Gracie heard them talking about the mask, and then they sounded like they were working on the new robot. She just HAD to see what they were working on!

Wait...

She's a ghost... Does that mean she can fly?

She tested it out. Bouncing on her toes, then her heels, then jumping higher off the ground, until-

She could fly!

Gracie did a few loop-de-loops before swooping over to the wall. After all, if she could fly, who says she couldn't go through walls? (Answer: Nobody! Teeheehee!)  
She peered in and saw a robot laying on the table, surrounded by Freddy and Goldie and Springy and Mister Fredbear, and they were busy putting a mask on its face. Mister Fredbear was saying something...

"-so remember, the paint needs to dry during the day, which means we can show Gracie tomorrow night."

Then Goldie said, "It's really a shame that the white paint reacted badly to the blue on the mask."

Mister Fredbear nodded sadly. "I hope she doesn't mind the purple."

After a moment, Freddy added, "Yeah, but at least the red held! And the bot is functional!"

Springy smirked. "Yep! But now I think Mr. Fredbear needs to go home. Sleep is very important to customers and staff!"

Mister Fredbear yawned, then said "I'll be fine!"

Gently escorting him outside, Goldie told him, "Denial's not just a river in Egypt, you know. Go sleep. Preferably at home, not on your desk like last night." They grinned at each other before Mister Fredbear began walking home. Gracie tried to go outside, but couldn't do it. Maybe she needed practice...

She called after Mister Fredbear, "Sank yuu, Mistew Fwedbeaw!" He seemed startled and turned back to the diner, before he smiled back. Maybe he heard her..!  
This whole ghost thing suddenly wasn't so bad!

* * *

Pauline saw Philip's pickup pull up behind the U-Haul, and he got out. She was holding back tears for Marian, who was still inside, taking one last look around. Michael was thanking their neighbors for their help in moving the furniture.

Philip walked over. "So...Mrs. Schmidt...today's the day?" She nodded, accidentally letting out a whimper. "Aw, don't cry, then I'll start to cry, then I won't be able to stop, then we'll make a scene, then-ah crap, now look!" He started sniffling, too.

Pauline threw her arms around the boy. He slowly fell into the motherly embrace, crying. "I just don' geddit, man! Why did this have to happen? Why, why, why, oh why-" he broke down, knowning he would regret it later, "-And why to your family? I-I-I just can't!"

Pauline cried silently, even as she thought about his actions...This wasn't his family. Gracie wasn't his daughter. Pauline and Michael weren't his parents. Marian wasn't his sister...

Or his...

Oh.

It all made sense now! All those times when he had volunteered to help Marian, when his mouth had twitched downward hearing about Marian's wedding, when he had played with baby Gracie...

"Go-" her voice cracked, but she went on "-go for it."

"Huh..?" Phil asked, stepping back to look at her face.

"Look, I just put it together. You like Marian, right?"

He stammered back, " Well, yeah, uh, she's been my, um, best friend for, ah-" Pauline just looked at him.

"You know what I mean. You _like_ her." He nodded mutely. "And I'm saying go for it. She needs it as much as you do. I don't think we'll need to convince Michael too much. As long as you promise..." She couldn't go on, and Phil placed his hands on her shoulders, looking solemnly into her eyes.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Schmidt. I'll protect her to the best of my ability, this I swear." She nodded, wiping her tears.

By now, Marian was slowly trudging her way to her car. Phil saw this and ran after her. Pauline couldn't make out the words they said, but Marian started laughing at whatever it was.

Pauline hoped they could make it through the tragedy.

* * *

Gracie was sitting on the edge of the stage, listening to Goldie and the other two play for the kids. She was glad that these people were having fun, although...she did hear a boy crying. She looked over at Goldie and nodded to tell him she'd find out what was wrong.

Gracie pushed herself off the stage and followed the sound of crying to the back of the crowd, where a little boy, no more than three, was trying to grab a balloon that had floated up to the ceiling. She flew up and grabbed it, pulling it back down to the boy, now staring at her.

She knew he probably couldn't hear her, but she said it anyway. "Hewe ya go!" She held the balloon out to him.

He slowly took it from her, then asked, "Who yuu?"

Gracie was shocked. "Ya...see me?"

He nodded. "Yeah! Why no?"

Gracie wasn't telling him that. "I'm Gwacie! Who awe you?"

"My name Benny!"

"Dat's a nice name!" Gracie said, smiling.

"Benny! Where are you?" a woman called.

"Ova hewe!" he yelled back. Then to Gracie, "Dat's my mama! We goin now! Bye Gwacie! See ya wayta, awwigatow!" He toddled away.

"In a whiwe...cwocodiwe..." Gracie waved to him before going back to the stage. She gave Goldie a thumbs-up and went back to listening. She couldn't wait until tonight came and she could see the surprise! Maybe then she could talk to Benny some more...

The noon chimes rang out through the building, telling everyone that it was break time for the band. The children all got up and began running around to their families to eat while they waited.

Goldie walked backstage and sat down on a crate to catch what could be his breath while the other two went around, serving pizza and cake to the kids. Gracie came up by him and asked, "Do yuu kno what's gonna happen to me?"

Goldie looked surprised. "What...what? What's that supposed to mean?"

Gracie thought about what she was about to say, then told him, "Weww, I've heawd stowies of ghosts fwom yeaws and yeaws and yeaws ago stiww being awound. And Mommy once dwove past a dump, and I saw weawwy bwoken wobots dewe, and dey wooked weaw sad... Awe yuu gonna hafta go to da dump, Gowdie?" She asked him sadly.

"Well, Gracie, ya got me there. Most likely, I will end up in a scrapyard, but not for a long, long time. And maybe you could make friends with some other ghosts, to keep you company. But..." Goldie grinned before pulling Gracie into a hug. "...I'm not leaving for a while yet, if I have any say at all."

Gracie just sniffled and nodded into his fur.

They stayed that way for a long, long time.

* * *

That night, Spring was doing last minute tune-ups on the Box as Freddy tried to get the 'tronic ready and Fredbear distracted Gracie.

"Hey Freddy, can I see the bot?" He asked without looking away from his work.

"Sure, here ya go!" Freddy walked over and rested it by the box.

Spring carefully placed the new toy inside before closing the box and calling over to Fredbear, "We're ready! Bring her on in!"

He heard Gracie ask, "Weady? Is it my suwpwise?" She sounded excited.

Fredbear walked in with his paws covering Gracie's eyes, Gracie giggling madly. "Youw paws awe fuzzy!"

Fredbear just took them away so she could see it.

The "it" in question was a tall, thin, black figure with white stripes running across the wrists and ankles. Gracie floated up by the face, its smile enchanting her while its tears went largely ignored. She turned around with a huge grin, laughing. "You made dis...fow me?" Spring nodded while the other two spoke at the same time, "Yep!" and chuckled warmly.

Gracie tackled them all in a big hug, crying "Thank you, thank you" over and over.

* * *

Mr. Fredbear unlocked the door to the diner, only to be knocked over by a very cuddly animatronic.

"Tank yuu, Mistew Fwedbeaw!" it shouted, squeezing him so hard he couldn't breathe.

"Need…OXYGEN!" His eyes bugged out. It immediately set him down, apologizing profusely. Mr. Fredbear shushed it with his index finger before asking, "Is that you, Gracie?"

It-no, SHE-nodded, bouncing on her toes. "Wookit me, Mistew Fwedbeaw! I'm a weally big giw now!"

"That you are, and guess what?" She crouched down to listen. "Big girls like you get to help Freddie and the band!"

"Hewp? What ken I do?" she asked, overjoyed.

"Here, I'll show you!" he told her, setting his things on the nearest table before walking to a big gift box next to a wall. Gracie stumbled after him, not quite used to her new height.

She opened the box, only to find it empty. Before she could be too disappointed, Mister Fredbear spoke again. "You'll get to give prizes to all the kids after the game time!"

Even through the plastic mask, her eyes lit up. "I get to give dem aww pwesents? Yay!" She then gave Mr. Fredbear another bear hug.

After having his air back, he pulled a music box out of his pocket. "And here's something to have the kids wind to have you come out!" He wound it up, and it started playing 'Pop Goes The Weasel.' "And you can pop out with a present when the music plays POP goes the weasel!"

Gracie asked, "So I'm a Gwace-in-da-Box? Coow!"

The front door opened as Jeremy walked in, hands behind his head. He went right past his dad and Gracie, seemingly not seeing them. Then he froze and slowly turned back around.

* * *

Jeremy could only stare. There was his dad, and behind him was this tall, marionette-type thing. Although it was hiding behind him, peering over Dad's head. Now it was waving at him..?

"Dad..? What..?" Jeremy could barely talk.

"Ah. Well, ya see, that girl that died? This is her." Dad stuttered.

It spoke, "Um, hewwo. My name is Gwacie. What's youws?"

"Jeremy..." He waved slowly at it, extremely confused.

Dad noticed the tension in the air. "Jeremy, would you like to help Gracie into her prize box? The staff and customers will be arriving soon, and I'd rather they not know about Gracie here."

"Ummm...okay?" Jeremy answered, still confused. With that, Dad headed for his office, leaving him with...how was he supposed to think of the Puppet?! She, he, it?!  
The Puppet asked him quietly, "Wiww yuu be my fwiend, Jewemy?"

He gazed at...her...for a moment before answering. "Yeah. I, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think we can be friends." He couldn't see her face move, but it seemed she was smiling a bit more.

"Now, let's get you into the box. We don't want to spoil the surprise yet, right?" He grinned.

* * *

 **LOOK AT MEEEEEEEE I'M NOT DEAD YET!**

 **But seriously, I've been trying to upload this for ages. ABSOLUTE AAAGGGEEESSS**

 **Enough about meeee! I have meteorology to do! Then-TO CHAPTER 3! *runs off maniacally laughing***

 **FOOD EATER VERDICTA IS OUT! PEACE! XD**


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